


the bobcat and the shark.

by rolie_polie



Category: Scream (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cuddles, Death, F/F, Fluff, Grieving, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, girl love, this is long overdue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 06:50:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9645116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rolie_polie/pseuds/rolie_polie
Summary: she thought she was the bobcat.but then she lost him, and really she's just a shark.





	

Her eyes were round. Always wide as if to say she were constantly alert, and yet they showed nothing but exhaustion everywhere she went. She was so tired.  
She never said anything, but she didn't have to.  
Everyone knew.  
Emma, Stavo, Noah, Audrey.  
Even as things started going back to normal—whatever normal was for them now—the light in her eyes was gone.  
Audrey often wondered at what point that light died.  
Was it after Riley?  
Will?  
Jake?  
Was it in the dark of that freezer, when she looked death in the eye for the first time?  
In the fray of everything, Audrey had never truly paid attention to the moment when Brooke Maddox lost her flare.  
The four that remained of The Lakewood Six now spent three out of seven days a week in therapy. There was speculation throughout the town, constant whispers of "who had it the worst?" And "who suffered more?"  
Brooke and Emma were tied for first place.  
It didn't matter, though.  
At the end of the day, Brooke always returned home to big, black, empty nothing.  
No dad, no mom, no Jake Fitzgerald.  
She started to avoid home.  
She stayed with Audrey, with Stavo, with anyone who would take her.  
Audrey was always willing. And as night after night passed, she became used to scooting over at 3 in the morning to make room for her terrified friend. She became used to holding Brooke's hand throughout the night, putting her arms around her, talking to her softly until she finally fell asleep. Some nights, Brooke would talk back. They would murmur in the dark with their fingers intertwined.  
The contact always helped keep Brooke calm.  
Calm was not something she had an easy time with anymore.  
Audrey knew this because of the way Brooke would come running to her, shake her awake, either with her hands or her loud sobs. The way she'd scream at night from her own wild hallucinations, or her night terrors.  
It soon got to the point that Audrey no longer had Brooke stay in the guest room, or on the couch. She started the night in Audrey's bed.  
Her trembling could be felt right in the tips of her fingers on the nights she was most afraid. And on those nights, Audrey squeezed Brooke's hands, from the tips of her fingers to her palms, and she'd smile at her, joking softly about anything to make the blonde smile.  
And on some nights, Brooke was calm. The fear was deep rooted and soft, relaxed. So she'd talk to Audrey, her voice not quivering, and they'd fall asleep without disturbance.  
Having a body beside her's became normal for Audrey, and though she kept her own emotions and nightmares quiet, she had them too. And Brooke's presence helped.  
It quelled the thoughts of Rachel. Of her part in bringing Piper to Lakewood. Of watching Noah hurt relentlessly over the two girls he couldn't save, and the pain he suffered after being buried in the ground.  
For Audrey, having someone to take care of was better than any breathing exercises her therapist could come up with.  
And for Brooke, being held at night seemed to chase the monsters away.

* * *

 

"Brooke," Audrey grunted, nudging her sleeping friend, "Brooke, wake up."  
The shivering blonde didn't respond, other than to whimper unhappily and turn on her back, obviously close to crying.  
"God damn it," Audrey groaned, sleepily reaching out yet again. Shaking Brooke by the shoulders, she tried again, "Wake up, Brooke, come on."  
It was at this point that she finally heard the little groan of a stirring body, her friend sniffling as she rolled over again, still asleep but no longer entirely. Audrey poked her in the boob.  
"Wake up, Brooke."  
That got the blonde's attention, and her eyes cracked open, finally seeming to grasp onto the strings of reality, and her dreams slipping away from her like water.  
A noise of confusion hummed from her mouth, and Audrey pressed her palm to Brooke's shoulder.  
"Brooke. You up now?"  
The blonde began to register where she was in her mind now, and she turned to look at Audrey, her lidded eyes wet and shiny with tears. The moonlight bounced off of them, and Audrey damned whatever force of nature dared make someone so sad look so pretty in the midst of it all.  
"I saw him again." Her voice trembled.  
"Jake?"  
Brooke nodded slowly, then her tired eyes squeezed shut and she sobbed.  
"Why did he have to die like that, Audrey?" She whispered, "Why did it have to be so cruel?"  
Her friend didn't know how to respond. Audrey simply sighed softly, reaching out to brush her fingers through Brooke's hair, giving her that sad, sad, Audrey smile.  
"I wish I could tell you."  
Sniffling helplessly, Brooke rubbed her puffy cheeks.  
"Dr. Merriam keeps telling me I have to let him go. That he'd want me to let him go."  
She seemed to have cried herself dry in the last couple months, so aside from the sniffles and the slow, lazy trail of occasional tears, she was calm tonight.  
"Is she wrong...?" Audrey asked this carefully, hyperaware of the possibility that she might offend her companion.  
Brooke didn't seem to care, though. She just let out a watery laugh and turned onto her back.  
"Yes. Jake would haunt anyone who showed even mild interest in me." It was a joke.  
Audrey laughed, looking up at the ceiling, her fingers still idly playing with Brooke's long hair.  
"Well I mean you're not wrong."  
Giggling, "Right? He's so possessive!" Brooke giggled, and it slowly trailed to silence. They were both quiet for a moment, and then the girl corrected herself.  
"Was.. He _was_ possessive."  
Audrey turned her head to look at Brooke again. She looked defeated. Audrey touched her cheek, and stroked her puffy, tear stained skin, wiping away the wetness.  
"Even if Dr. Merriam is right... Are you really ready to let him go?"  
Brooke closed her eyes and grit her teeth, clearly holding back an unsatisfying hiccup of tears.  
"I don't think so," She whispered, "It's been so long but... It just feels like he should be here still, y'know?"  
"I know.. I know, Brooke." Audrey scooted closer. She rested her body right against her friend's, holding onto her and putting pressure over the parts that always seemed to ache most when she cried, indicated by the way Brooke would clutch at her chest, her tummy, her shoulders.  
"Letting go hurts so bad, Audrey... It hurts _a lot_."  
"I know." She whispered. Like she would disturb the little fragile pieces of Brooke's remaining composure if she spoke any louder.  
When Brooke had her sad eyes closed, and Audrey stroked her hair, her arms, her cheeks, rubbing the pain away, it was a quiet calm. One that was laced with undertones of resigned sorrow that Audrey wanted so desperately to fight away. She wanted to beat off Brooke's demons with a stick, yelling curse words at them in her raggedly aggressive way.  
"You kind of remind me of Jake," Came a sudden breathy confession, "You're like... Impulsive... And beautiful... A lot like Jake."  
Brooke was half asleep again, Audrey could tell. She turned into the embrace of her dark haired friend, and Audrey held her, suddenly subdued and surprised. But it was okay.  
Because Brooke was asleep again, and she was breathing, and she was going to be okay.  
They both were.


End file.
